Definition
of a Cynical Buyer "A person who knows the price of everything
and the value of nothing"
Oscar
Wilde-Derived from Lady Windermere's Fan, 1893, Act lll
Customers
reaching this page will have clicked on our culture link either in
curiosity or by mistake.
There
is, however, serious intent behind this timeless quote that is now
over one hundred years old. The plain fact is we now live in an age
when nearly everyone thinks that bargain prices are the norm and the
devil takes the hindmost.
Well
in this web site we like to think that we treat our prospective and
established customer with a little more respect and, hopefully, give
best advice for the benefit of our customers and their own businesses.
Selling
too cheap puts our business at risk of failure and in many ways if
we fail then customers may well regret purchasing equipment or
services from us. Therefore, we operate a defined pragmatic Pricing
Policy
in connection with profitability against our sales and service.
Every
businessperson knows the value of margins. Large retail business can
sustain small margins with great volumes and smaller businesses
require bigger margins where business volumes are lower. It is a
dangerous gamble to try and sustain small margins in a low volume
business sector.
Ontime
Systems Limited has been around for long enough to have witnessed
many suppliers of our type of equipment disappear for the very reason
of not maintaining sufficient profitability in their trading.
Our
answer is not to overstock or be over ambitious in our estimates as
to the market demands year on year coupled with a respect for the
amount of time order fulfilment requires.
And
there is the rub - TIME.
How much time can a supplier spend on each order that enables them
to gain sufficient income to cover their overheads and staff costs?
TIME
- the very resource we aspire to give advice on how, to manage and
monitor the effective and profitable usage. Undervaluing time is the
first twist to the vicious spiral of unprofitability and many a box
shifting enterprise has fallen foul of this oversight in management.
Our
prices may not be the cheapest available for given items of
equipment but customers can be assured that all items shipped will be
tested, quality assured by us and probably set up to suit individual
user's requirements.
This
also saves customers time in reading obtuse multi-model manuals,
avoids disappointment and, maybe, embarrassing implementation of a
sensitive system associated with staff management.
We
look forward to continuing service to discerning customers but those
that want something for near nothing they will have to go elsewhere.